Accused serial killer back in court

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - As prosecutors with the Harris County District Attorney’s office read the probable cause against Jose Rodriguez, he stood in front of a judge in a yellow prison uniform with his defense team.

"The biggest challenge is probably the public sentiment about the case that why we always ask that people kind of refrain from passing judgment immediately," said Anthony Osso, leading the team of four defense attorneys.

Osso is known for his work in other high-profile cases including representing Shannon Miles who is serving a life sentence in the murder of Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth.

Rodriguez is charged two counts of capital murder. He's charged in the in death of Pamela Johnson during a home invasion in Cypress. He also charged in the death of Edward Magana, a mattress store employee in Houston.

Rodriguez is also accused of killing Allie Barrow, a manager at different mattress store in Houston, but he has not been charged with her murder yet.

"We are continuing to investigate any potential crimes that he was involved with and we’ll make a decision when we have all the facts on those cases on whether or not we’re going to charge him," said Samantha Knecht, a prosector with the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

She adds they’re still processing evidence.

"We’re working on getting ballistics testing, crime scene testing completed. But when he was arrested, he was arrested with a revolver in the passenger’s seat next to him and we believe that that’s probably consistent with the murder weapon that was used in the [capital murders]," Knecht told reporters.

Osso says Monday’s hearing was an opportunity for his entire team to meet with Rodriguez. He says the first step is evaluating their client.

"We’ll always start out with a full analysis and evaluation of our client. That’s our starting point. Then, we’ll meet with him collectively but until such time that the state produces evidence for us through discovery, we really can’t identify immediately the direction we’ll head in. We need to get the discovery from the state," Osso added.